6.20.2006

Eee-Oh-Tee-You

If you're a UIUC local, you don't need me to tell you about the Ethnography of the University (EOTU) cross-campus initiative. If you don't know about it, know this: it is something that one could only dream of at many other universities.

I met with GR today, who is wrapping up his work on the EUTU to move to warmer climes and a quiet place to write. This website has a nice overview of the EOTU program and mission; this one enacts several tenets of the project, visually arraying an archive of sound and images.

The meeting with GR happened because I'm lucky enough to be able to link one of my fall courses, "Writing Technologies," to the EOTU program. Students in the course will work throughout the semester to document, practice, and analyze technologically embodied writing practices on our campus. Their work will be displayed online, and while I'm guessing their projects will be pretty image based, I'm also hoping some sound files make their way into the projects.

Anyway, in talking with GR today about EOTU in general and my linked course in particular, I was impressed by the program's flexibility within an imagining of the university as a site for creative inquiry. This is the part of the program I'm most psyched about, and it's something to look forward to in the fall.